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The National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued its first-ever awards for the NSF INCLUDES program, a comprehensive initiative to enhance U.S. leadership in science and engineering by broadening participation in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

NSF INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science) aims to improve access to STEM education and career pathways at the national scale, making them more widely inclusive to underserved populations. Over the next decade, NSF will expand the program, with the goal of developing a science and engineering workforce that better reflects the diversity of U.S. society.

The initial recipients comprise 37 Design and Development Launch Pilots, funded through two-year grants aimed at supporting projects with the potential to deliver prototypes for bold, new models that broaden participation in STEM. They also include 11 grants for conferences that will explore the development of backbone organizations to support a national network of NSF INCLUDES alliances and partnerships.

"For more than six decades, NSF has funded the development of STEM talent, with the goals of furthering scientific discovery and ensuring the nation's security, economy and ability to innovate. NSF INCLUDES aims to broaden participation in STEM by reaching populations traditionally underserved in science and engineering," NSF Director France Córdova said. "I'm gratified to see such a strong start to this program, which we hope will be an enduring investment in our nation's future in scientific discovery and technological innovation."

NSF has a long history of supporting broadening participation programs. NSF INCLUDES, the latest addition to this portfolio, began after the congressionally mandated NSF Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering (CEOSE) published a report in 2013 recommending "a bold new initiative, focused on broadening participation of underrepresented groups in STEM." As part of the response to that recommendation, NSF incorporated input from critical stakeholders into the design of NSF INCLUDES. The new initiative employs the concept of collective impact, incorporating partners across a variety of sectors to maximize results.

NSF INCLUDES will invest in alliances and partnerships that scale up efforts to broaden STEM participation among underrepresented groups, including women, Hispanics, African Americans, Native Americans, persons with disabilities, people from rural areas and people of low socioeconomic status. Multi-year NSF INCLUDES alliances will engage partners from private and corporate philanthropy, federal agencies and scientific professional societies.

Building on these initial awards, the program will provide networked testbeds for STEM inclusion, connecting participants and enabling them to determine the key components and approaches that lead to sustainable progress at a national scale.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2017, its budget is $7.5 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 48,000 competitive proposals for funding and makes about 12,000 new funding awards.